Apple iPad Air 2 to get integrated display for a thinner, lighter tablet

Front panels for Apple's next-generation iPad Air have leaked and show the tablet will use an integrated display that will allow the tablet to be thinner and lighter than its predecessor.
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Apple's iPad Air is already extremely thin and light but newly leaked images of the next-generation iPad Air 2's display show it will likely be even thinner when it's released.

Apple has typically never been the first company to introduce a new product, what the company usually does is enter the market after rivals and uses that time to address the shortcomings of those devices and releases a device that gets it right.

Apple's iPod took the personal digital music player device category by storm even though rivals had already released devices a few years before Apple entered the market. What set the iPod apart from devices from Creative and other companies was its breathtaking design and super intuitive user interface. Apple's iPod quickly became the digital music player consumers wanted and rivals tried to copy.

Again, Apple's iPhone wasn't the first smartphone to hit the market, but the time Apple took in developing the handset and getting its design, usability, and exceptional software, quickly led the company to become king of smartphones with the original iPhone. Then companies like Samsung, HTC, Palm, and more followed Apple's blueprint of using multitouch displays and similar features found on the first iPhone to offer their customers smartphones that tried to mimic Apple's handset.

In April 2010 Apple released its first tablet, the original iPad. Again, Apple was not the first company to release a tablet computer. Companies like Samsung, Compaq, and other Windows licensees all had been releasing tablets years before the iPad was ever released. What Apple did was use the same recipe it used in the iPod and iPhone; beautiful design coupled with intuitive software that provided an experience none of its rivals offered.

Each iPad Apple released after the original made consumers want to upgrade because the devices became more powerful, had jaw-dropping designs, and set the bar for what a tablet should be. When Apple released the fifth-generation iPad, it chose to give the tablet a new name to match its thin and light body. If you thought the next-generation iPad Air 2 would feature upgraded internals in the same body, newly leaked images show that Apple will once again wow the world with an even thinner and lighter flagship tablet.

A Dutch site posted images of what it claims are the front panel and display of the next-generation iPad Air, which is tentatively being called the iPad Air 2. The images show Apple has used an integrated display in the upcoming iPad instead of using a separate panel and display parts found in the current iPd Air. Using an integrated display will allow Apple to reduce the overall thickness and weight of the tablet.

Apple is expected to release an updated iPad Air 2 and iPad mini with Retina display in the third quarter and both tablets are rumored to adopt the iPhone 5s' Touch ID fingerprint scanner and a more powerful 64-bit A8 processor.